The Carleton Chronicle
A weekly update from Carleton Middle School.
WIDA, NWEA, and MSTEP
Testing, testing. 1, 2, 3.
I thought I would take a moment and write about the various standardized tests that our students recently completed or will soon take in the near future.
WIDA was just administered to close to 200 students. This test is given to those students who speak, or are exposed to another language other than English. WIDA stands for World-class Instructional Design and Assessment and has 4 major components of the test. Listening, Reading, Writing, and Speaking are all assessed and our students showed an incredible amount of effort during this test. I hope that many of our students will "exit" the English Learner program as a result of this test.
Northwest Evaluation Association or NWEA will be coming up in early March. Our students take this assessment twice a year in the areas of Reading, Language Usage, and Mathematics. The interesting thing about NWEA is that they have assessed over 4.5 million students and the results show how your son or daughter "compare" to other students in 49 countries, 50 states, and 3400 school districts. At the end of each Measure of Academic Progress (MAP) students are given a percentile ranking against that of their peers, placing them at the 99th to 1st percentile or somewhere in between. As this test approaches, please encourage your son or daughter to try their absolute best. Our teachers will also be speaking with students about trying to meet or exceed their targets for academic growth as measured by this test. The other interesting fact about NWEA is that the test is adaptive, meaning if the student answers several questions correctly, the test will become more difficult, sometimes pushing a student to read text (for example) at the college level. We use data from this test to place students into our intervention classes and helps decide whether or not students should be on the advanced path or admitted to programs such as MS2TC.
MSTEP or Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress will begin after Spring Break and is designed to gauge how well students are understanding state specific standards. Students in grades 6, 7, and 8 will all take an ELA (English Language Arts) and mathematics test. Our 8th graders are also scheduled to take a science and social studies test. The MSTEP claims that it can predict on whether or not a student will be prepared to enter the workplace and are college ready.
We ask you to encourage your son or daughter to take all of these assessments seriously and to take their time. We want them to be able to "show off" a little bit and demonstrate all that they have learned while at school.
Thanks for reading. We'll see your students again on February 26th.
We Know our Slope
Graphing Motion in Science
Beginning to read
Clark's Corner
Parents,
This week I was able to celebrate what I deem to be an important event in my life every year. An event filled with excitement, hope, and new opportunities. An event that signals all of the great things that are to come and all of the challenges that may be faced moving forward. This event is held special in the heart of every die hard, unbashed baseball fan. It is the reporting of pitchers and catchers to spring training which signifies the beginning of the baseball season as well as a start of a march towards spring and the sunshine, green grass, and warm weather that is yet to come.
Our students also celebrate this time of years as they enter into a break where they get to spend time with their friends and family. Possibly get away on a short vacation, and begin to think about all of the outdoor activities that await them as the weather warms. They begin looking towards spring break and much like baseball fans the excitement of summer. It is during this time that we all need to take a page out of Ron Gardenhire’s (the manager of the Detroit Tigers) playbook and take it one day and one win at a time. As he gets his team ready for a long season and helps them celebrate their successes along the way (and let’s be honest the Tigers may not have many) we should all take a minute to ask how are we going to get ready for the race to summer and what successes should we celebrate.
I could write for a long time about writing celebration winners, art contest winners, sports teams, band members, and the hundreds of students that turn in the work, create great relationships with peers and adults, and that do things worth celebrating. I will however leave that celebration to our students and their families. Please take a few minutes each day to discuss the accomplishments both at and away from school that your children our proud of, let them brag and come back full of confidence.
I wish you all a restful break.
Events for Your Calendar
February 19-23 - No School
February 26 - School Resumes
February 27 - Prefestival Concert (SHHS PAC) 6pm Concert Band, 7pm Cadet Band
March 1 - Girls Home BB Game vs. Carter
March 1 - 8th Grade Parent Meeting regarding Farewell Party (6:30pm)
About Us
Email: ekausch@wcskids.net
Website: http://school.wcskids.net/carleton/
Location: 8900 15 Mile Rd, Sterling Heights, MI, United States
Phone: (586) 825-2590
Twitter: @CarletonColts